Survivor Speak - Polaris https://polarisproject.org Polaris works to reshape the systems that allow for sex and labor trafficking in North America and operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline. Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:48:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://polarisproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/favicon.ico Survivor Speak - Polaris https://polarisproject.org 32 32 Opinion: First Federal Criminal Record Relief Bill will Help Survivors Break Free From the Past and Pursue a Viable Future https://polarisproject.org/blog/2025/01/first-federal-criminal-record-relief-bill-will-help-survivors-break-free-from-the-past-and-pursue-a-viable-future/ Thu, 23 Jan 2025 16:26:45 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=19206 Advocates across the anti-human-trafficking field are calling on Congress to pass the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which would create the first federal pathway for survivors of labor and sex trafficking to clear criminal records resulting from their trafficking experience. This law would break down a massive barrier to survivors’ economic stability and mobility, as having … Continued

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Advocates across the anti-human-trafficking field are calling on Congress to pass the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which would create the first federal pathway for survivors of labor and sex trafficking to clear criminal records resulting from their trafficking experience. This law would break down a massive barrier to survivors’ economic stability and mobility, as having a criminal record — even resulting from victimization — restricts one’s ability to secure housing, employment, and custody rights. 

As a survivor of labor and sex trafficking, I know this impact firsthand. When I was 15 years old, I was coerced to work at a strip club and “adultified” by society. While I was a minor and into adulthood, the man I thought was my protector at the club turned out to be my pimp. Moreover, he knew how to use everything in his power — even my own children — to manipulate me.

At one point, he orchestrated parallel cases against me in both family and criminal courts. Despite knowing that I was a victim of sex trafficking, the family court did not provide me with an attorney and instead awarded him custody of our child — the first case in Texas where a victim (me) had to pay her trafficker child support. In criminal court, I could not afford to go to trial and was forced to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit. 

Meanwhile, when I tried to move forward, I was left struggling to make ends meet. I had served in the military and was later hired by the Sheriff’s Department. But although my colleagues vouched for me, my criminal record prevented me from keeping the job and pursuing a career. Credit reporting agencies and background checks flagged my record, complicating my efforts to obtain credit and find employment.

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Fortunately, my custody case ended up being reopened. Everything came out, and I proved my innocence. I started getting my children back, but my criminal record remained a barrier to finding gainful employment to support us. I could only find non-living wage jobs that left us in poverty — and put my children in a vulnerable position where, God forbid, they might end up where I was as a teen. I know all too well that trafficking can be generational: My mother was a victim of trafficking, too.

My family’s story is not the only example. I recently participated in a National Survivor Study, surveying hundreds of trafficking survivors across the country. The results are striking: 42% of respondents report having a criminal record, with 90% reporting that all or some of their arrests were related to their exploitation. These records keep us from getting or keeping a job (69%); getting training, education, or a professional license (63%); getting good housing (59%); and maintaining custody of our children (35%). 

Knowing this reality, I’ve been putting my experience to use. Over the last five years, I have shared my story many times, including in founding a youth-serving nonprofit, Nissi’s Network; running for political office in Houston in 2019; and advocating for SB 315, a Texas law preventing young people under age 21 from working in sexually oriented businesses — with the goal of keeping other girls from ending up where I was. I also want better communication and collaboration between criminal and family courts, as well as more resources and programs for girls and young women who are mothers.

And I support the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act. Passing this bill in Congress would be a huge step in empowering survivors of trafficking — and it could make the path forward easier for someone else in my situation.

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The 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Needs More Support Systems and Inclusive Policies to Reduce Vulnerabilities to Trafficking https://polarisproject.org/blog/2024/06/the-2slgbtqia-community-needs-more-support-systems-and-inclusive-policies-to-reduce-vulnerabilities-to-trafficking/ Sat, 01 Jun 2024 05:45:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=18571 Transgender people exist within the perfect storm of vulnerabilities that human traffickers use to exploit them. For example, trans people often lack familial support, are harassed for simply being who they are or supporting others like them, and experience rejection from services and opportunities – like housing and medical care. Traffickers take advantage of these … Continued

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Transgender people exist within the perfect storm of vulnerabilities that human traffickers use to exploit them. For example, trans people often lack familial support, are harassed for simply being who they are or supporting others like them, and experience rejection from services and opportunities – like housing and medical care. Traffickers take advantage of these needs and vulnerabilities and exploit them to maintain control over their victims. Research has even found that LGBTQ+ youth are significantly more likely to be sex trafficked than their straight counterparts.

My name is Ms. Mercy Gray (she/her) of the Bulaceño and Kapampangan peoples from the Philippine Islands. I am a survivor of much violence: colonization, domestic violence, assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, gang-based violence, human trafficking, and as an indigenous transgender woman living in America. This is my story.

As a child, I was groomed with narcotics and trafficked for sex at the age of 14 out of the states of Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. I first experienced houselessness at the age of 15 and survived in the commercial sex trade for ten years after that.

I first met my trafficker as a young scrawny gay boy from a military family living in a military town. I come from a conservative Texan Catholic background and met my trafficker while in the closet. Whether I wanted to be or not, I was, and remain 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/ Questioning, Intersex, Asexual). The lack of awareness and discussion about these communities played a role in making me more vulnerable to trafficking and led me to look for answers from exploitative adults on the internet when I was only 10 years old. Having been molested earlier in my life and becoming sexually active at that age, I had lots of questions that many grown men had answers to. In searching for answers about my experience and identity, I met and was groomed by my 32-year-old trafficker.

Later on in my life, after nearly two decades of finding myself in the aftermath of being trafficked and finding all my own resources to heal from it, I began medically transitioning my gender. Despite 10 years of experience in social work and a bachelor’s degree, I found myself facing the same employment issues many other transgender people face: discrimination with a sudden new inability for gainful employment. I quickly went from working a permanent, full-time government job in law enforcement, making $37.00/hr, to needing to sell sex to survive and using the substances I was groomed to use as a child. I quickly found myself feeling 14 again. Scared, in the back of some strange man’s car, it didn’t matter how loud I could scream – no help would come for me.

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Quicker yet, I found myself without access to the gender-affirming care medications, providers, and surgeries I needed and had already established. I met an older woman who said she would help me and provide me with the hormones I needed. Out of necessity, I found myself sleeping on her floor – next to a stripper pole and massage table. But these street hormones made me incredibly ill, causing a serious infection that left permanent damage and scarring on my body.

I began to need this woman to survive. I experienced a refusal of medical care and prescription access and was treated disrespectfully and poorly by medical professionals – an experience common to many transgender and gender non-conforming people. As a result of my dysphoria, recent trauma from my boyfriend at the time, and a lifetime of abuse, I resorted again to the narcotics I had been groomed to consume as a child for the purposes of sexual acts for items of value. This woman quickly had a solution for this too, providing me with men to sleep with, narcotics to do so, and fake promises of job and other opportunities.

This is what it looks like to become a statistic. Despite my education, career, and the tremendous work I had put in to overcome my childhood trauma, the discrimination I experienced pursuing my gender identity caused me to fall into a bad way.

This is the story of so many transgender survivors across America – total systems failure. We face stark discrimination on all fronts. One U.S. Transgender Survey found that 50% of transgender women had traded sex for income. Despite this, transgender survivors are often excluded from programs that exist to help human trafficking survivors. In my experience, many housing programs, medical services, and first-response resources either do not accept transgender people or are not culturally responsive and trauma-informed to any 2SLGBTQIA+ person.

Facing discrimination on multiple fronts, 2SLGBTQIA+ people are both vulnerable to trafficking and face barriers when seeking assistance of any kind. Support systems and inclusive policies are needed to reduce this community’s vulnerability to traffickers and increase our access to services after exiting our trafficking situations. Without basic needs being met, 2SLGBTQIA+ people face a greater risk of returning to trafficking situations.

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The Impact of Victim-Blaming on Human Trafficking Survivors https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/04/the-impact-of-victim-blaming-on-human-trafficking-survivors/ Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:00:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=16935 Denim Day is an internationally-recognized day to support survivors of sexual violence and bring awareness to the issue of victim-blaming. Human trafficking survivors know this issue all too well.

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Wearing tight jeans is not an invitation to a sexual encounter. Indeed, nothing a person does, says, or wears makes that person in any way responsible for their own harassment, assault, or other victimization – including trafficking. 

That’s the short version of the message of Denim Day, an internationally-recognized day to support survivors of sexual violence and bring awareness to the issue of victim-blaming. Human trafficking survivors know this issue all too well. Many are dealing with criminal records that are the direct result of their having been victimized and forced into committing crimes by a trafficker – a very tangible form of victim-blaming. But the mental health and emotional aspects of being treated as if you are at fault for your own sexual assault are equally damaging to people who have experienced trafficking and the manipulations traffickers deploy so expertly to make victims believe they are making their own choices. 

Victim-blaming relies on the perception that the person had a choice – that they made a wrong decision that led to their trafficking situation. But human trafficking is never the victim’s fault. It can show up in any number of scenarios, including supposedly therapeutic environments or when interacting with law enforcement. It often looks like questioning what a survivor could have, or should have, done differently to “prevent” their trafficking situation – such as not engaging in commercial sex, having irregular immigration status, or accepting a job that turns out to be a trafficking scam.  

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The tendency to blame the victim in scary situations is challenging to address legislatively because it is often an unconscious decision or choice –  a way to psychologically separate ourselves from them and maintain the view that bad things don’t happen to good people. Telling yourself that the victim must have done something wrong may be self-protective. 

Unfortunately, what protects one person’s emotional well-being can have an extremely harmful, real world effect on others. This is particularly true when trafficking survivors are blamed for their own victimization. This social stigma and the fear of not being believed may prevent them from seeking help or resources after they leave their situation. The internalization of that blame could make survivors think they did do something wrong, and they might not see themselves as deserving of help.

This potential tragedy is compounded by the fact that people who are blamed for their abuse report greater distress, increased depression, worsened symptoms of anxiety, and more complicated post-traumatic stress disorder. Holding survivors responsible for the exploitation they endured or insinuating that they had a choice in being trafficked is unfair. It’s time to change the culture around victim-blaming. YOU can help by examining your own thoughts and reactions to victims of these crimes. Challenge yourself and your friends to recognize the harm this blame has on survivors and stop viewing survivors as responsible for their trafficking situations.

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Sexual Assault Awareness Month: How Does Human Trafficking Fit In? https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/04/sexual-assault-awareness-month-how-does-human-trafficking-fit-in/ Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:55:37 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=16928 Many survivors of human trafficking are also survivors of sexual abuse. During April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we are exploring the intersection of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

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UPDATED APRIL 2025

Many survivors of human trafficking are also survivors of sexual abuse.

During April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we are exploring the intersection of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Human trafficking is defined as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into commercial sex acts or labor against their will. Sexual abuse can be a method of control that traffickers use – in both sex and labor trafficking situations. We looked at contacts to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline from 2015 through 2022 and examined the number of victims who experienced sexual abuse as a method of control during their trafficking situation. In situations where force, fraud, or coercion was known, we found that:

  • 18% of all the victims who experienced combined sex & labor trafficking experienced sexual abuse as a method of control (826 victims).
  • 11% of all sex trafficking victims experienced sexual abuse as a method of control (5,892 victims).

Sexual abuse is also a factor that can make people more vulnerable to human trafficking. Someone who has past experiences of sexual abuse, violence, or trauma could be lured in and taken advantage of by a trafficker who is exploiting their need for something like protection or love. Of the contacts made to the Trafficking Hotline from 2015 to 2021 where a risk factor or vulnerability was known, we found that:

  • 4% of all the victims who experienced combined sex & labor trafficking experienced sexual abuse prior to their trafficking situation (107 victims).
  • 6% of all sex trafficking victims experienced sexual abuse prior to their trafficking experience (1,590 victims).

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There is also a correlation between child sexual abuse and human trafficking. Polaris recently conducted and published the National Survivor Study, a research project designed to shed light on the experiences of human trafficking survivors in the U.S. When researching the conditions that make people vulnerable to trafficking the study found that 84 percent of participants experienced sexual abuse at some point in their childhood.

Sexual abuse and human trafficking are not isolated issues. The correlation between sexual abuse and human trafficking is disturbing and alarming, but not surprising. Sexual abuse can be a vulnerability that traffickers exploit and a way for traffickers to assert control over victims. Human trafficking cannot be left out of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and sexual assault cannot be excluded from the conversation about human trafficking.

Resources

National Human Trafficking Hotline: Call 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733
National Sexual Assault Hotline: Call 800-656-HOPE (4673)
Resources for survivors of sexual assault (National Sexual Violence Resource Center)

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Victim-Centered Criminal Justice: Improvements to Federal Guidelines for Prosecutors https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/02/victim-centered-criminal-justice-improvements-to-federal-guidelines-for-prosecutors/ Wed, 08 Feb 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=16388 Testimony from victims of crime is often the key to successful prosecution, but it can come at a significant cost to the victims themselves, who have to relive some of their most painful experiences.

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Testimony from victims of crime is often the key to the successful prosecution of any crime. But that success can come at a significant cost to the victims themselves, who have to repeatedly relive some of the most painful or scary moments of their lives. The situation is even more difficult for victims of human trafficking, who often have complex emotional ties to the trafficker. 

That’s why Polaris worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that the particular needs of victims of human trafficking were taken into account in its latest guidelines for how federal prosecutors work with victims of crime. 

The new guidelines offer a more trauma-informed, victim-centered approach that recognizes the complex nature of trafficking. 

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Among the key improvements:

  • Restitution: The new guidelines clarify that restitution is mandatory when traffickers are convicted – including to victims of sex trafficking, who are entitled to what the trafficker gained by selling them.
  • Emotional harm: Prosecutors and others in the federal system working with trafficking survivors should assume that the survivors experienced emotional harm and make accommodations/seek services and support for the victim accordingly. 
  • Safety plans: In the aftermath of criminal proceedings, whether or not cases go to trial, federal offices must ensure that plans are made to ensure the safety of victims of human trafficking, much as they are for victims of crimes, such as domestic violence. 

A significant portion of Polaris’s work focuses on helping financial institutions to understand patterns of how trafficking may show up in their customer data as other crimes, such as fraud and money laundering.

This work gives law enforcement another avenue to pursue traffickers and hold them accountable without relying on testimony from their victims. 

Of course, that is not always possible, and holding traffickers accountable can be an important part of the healing journey for some survivors. Polaris is glad that the U.S. Department of Justice has recognized the unique situations trafficking survivors, who are also witnesses in criminal cases, can find themselves in and work to ensure they have the support they need. 

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Listen to Black Survivors https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/02/listen-to-black-survivors/ Wed, 01 Feb 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=15941 The voices of Black survivors have historically been left out of the anti trafficking movement. To tell the true story of human trafficking, we can no longer separate it from race.

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I am a survivor of human trafficking. I am also a Black woman. 

Telling the real story of human trafficking – the story that acknowledges that human trafficking is the predictable end result of systems built in an unequal world – requires listening to survivors to understand their experiences. However, as a Black survivor of human trafficking myself, I must tell you that the voices of Black survivors have historically been left out of the anti trafficking movement.

If you look at the origins of the anti trafficking movement, this erasure of Black survivors is not all that surprising. Historically, the focus has been on the enslavement of white women, with laws being enforced to prevent “white slavery” as early as 1885. These laws eventually included the Mann Act, otherwise known as the White Slavery Act. This was the law I was prosecuted under, which resulted in me having a criminal record due to crimes my trafficker forced me to commit.

This historical focus on the narrative that white women and girls are the primary victims of human trafficking – the stories involving elaborate abduction schemes and international destinations – neglects the true story that us Black survivors have been telling for decades.

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From vulnerability and recruitment to extraction and criminal records, the truth is, to be able to tell the true story of human trafficking, we can no longer separate it from race. 

Victims: The fact is, Black women and girls are more vulnerable to sex trafficking than other races – with 40% of all victims and survivors of sex trafficking found to be Black in a two-year study by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Recruitment: Traffickers prey on those most vulnerable in our communities. Year over year, National Human Trafficking Hotline data tells us that risk factors like poverty or being in the foster care system make people more vulnerable to human trafficking. Black people are still disproportionately impoverished and disproportionately represented in the foster care system.

Extraction: The anti trafficking movement often talks about rescuing victims – but there is no rescue in a system that criminalizes victims and survivors, especially those that are Black. In 2019, 42% of all prostitution arrests were Black people

Criminalization: Not only are Black people more vulnerable to trafficking, but Black survivors are also more likely to hold a criminal record than white survivors due to the adultification and over-sexualization of Black women and girls that has allowed the criminal justice system to see us as criminals and our white counterparts as victims. 

The marginalization of Black voices in the anti-trafficking movement has resulted in white survivors and survivor-led organizations receiving bigger platforms, more media visibility and more funding than those of their Black counterparts. This, in turn, has culminated in inadequate prevention measures, a lack of long-term services, and the re-exploitation of many survivors after they’ve left their initial trafficking situation.  Now, it’s time the anti trafficking movement listens to Black survivors to tell the real story. 

This blog was written by Shamere McKenzie, Hotline Training Manager at Polaris

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In Harm’s Way: How Systems Fail Human Trafficking Survivors https://polarisproject.org/resources/in-harms-way-how-systems-fail-human-trafficking-survivors/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 20:00:20 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?post_type=resource&p=16327 The National Survivor Study used the experience and expertise from survivors to create a detailed picture of the arc of trafficking.

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The National Survivor Survey is the largest and most significant effort to date to learn directly from survivors of sex and labor trafficking. This report uses the findings from this study to paint a detailed picture of the arc of trafficking – from the conditions that make people vulnerable, to barriers to healing when those same people break free after experiencing exploitation. In doing so, it offers a virtual roadmap for policymakers and allies seeking to make change.

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Eyes on the Future: Survivor-Partnered Research in the National Survivor Study https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/01/eyes-on-the-future-survivor-partnered-research-in-the-national-survivor-study/ Wed, 18 Jan 2023 16:19:34 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=16106 The findings of the National Survivor Study tell the story of survivors after they exit their exploitation – and it’s the first time this story is being told.

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The findings of the National Survivor Study (NSS) tell the story of survivors after they exit their exploitation – and it’s the first time this story is being told at this depth and scale. What led us here was not a regimented and narrow research goal. Instead, it was humility, flexibility, and the willingness to step back, listen, and let a diverse group of survivors lead. 

Polaris has recently released a report titled, In Harm’s Way: How Systems Fail Human Trafficking Survivors. The report shares the initial findings from the NSS, a scientifically rigorous research project designed to shed light on the experiences and needs of human trafficking survivors in the United States. While on one hand the study findings paint a grim picture – survivors of trafficking are not thriving– on the other hand, the NSS represents a significant step forward in human trafficking research

The NSS is unique for two reasons. First, it is the first research study on human trafficking where the primary focus was not on the traumatic experiences survivors have faced in the past, but instead on their future and what stands in the way of their wellbeing. Taking action without both pieces of information can lead to survivors getting hurt, so having a fuller truth of their experience is the first step creating policies and programs that break those barriers down. The NSS has begun to fill in parts of the story that were missing before. 

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Second, the NSS showed that not only is survivor-led research possible, but that the results, and therefore the actions that can be taken, are more impactful. Other large studies have incorporated elements of survivor leadership, but have not made it central to the research process. Smaller studies have had truly-survivor centered methods, but their study size was too small to produce any actionable learnings. With tremendous effort, the NSS was able to produce a study that both adopted a true survivor leadership approach and is rigorous and large enough that it is scientifically sound to base policy change on its findings. 

Survivor leadership was the defining characteristic of the NSS. Survivors who consulted on or contributed to the NSS had reported that in past experiences, they often felt that participating in research studies was a form of re-exploitation. The NSS aimed not only to avoid inflicting harm, but to actually build trust with the survivor community participating in the study, and to instill a sense of being valued. Steps taken to achieve this included giving survivors real decision-making authority, creating space for multiple voices to be heard, maintaining a listening ear, and having the willingness to change direction when needed. 

The study shows that it is possible to create a safe space for learning and growing together, and end up with a product that is far greater than could have been achieved without such depth of trust and teamwork. 

This report is only the first step in what it will take to create survivor-friendly institutions. The NSS findings provide a starting point for survivors and allies to start taking bigger, more impactful steps to improve trafficking prevention and response efforts in the United States.

*This blog was written with survivor partners and allies who contributed to the NSS. 

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Language Matters: 5 Ways Your Words Impact Trafficking Survivors https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/01/language-matters-5-ways-your-words-impact-trafficking-survivors/ Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:01:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=14004 The language we use when talking about human trafficking can be triggering to survivors and preventing victims from recognizing they're in a trafficking situation. It's past time we listen to survivors and develop survivor-centered language.

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Language matters. Word choices are powerful. This is particularly important to keep in mind in the work of reducing and preventing human trafficking and supporting survivors. The way in which human trafficking is described or discussed can – often despite the very best intentions – feel tokenizing or triggering to survivors when they have gotten out of their situations and are working to heal. Even worse, the language we use could prevent victims from recognizing that they’re in a trafficking situation in the first place, which ultimately prevents them from reaching out for help. 

We know this because we asked survivors in detail about word choices and ways of thinking and talking about their experiences. They shared what they knew so that journalists, artists, advocates and activists could also take the time and make the effort to examine the language we all use when talking about human trafficking. It begins with how we tell the story. The quotes below come from interviews with the survivor experts who informed this piece. Read below, then go to Telling the Real Story of Human Trafficking to learn even more.

1. Language can harm victims by preventing them from recognizing they’re in a trafficking situation.

“Words like ‘rescue’ turn people off from getting help. It’s too dramatic, like you’re hanging off a side of a cliff. But when you are in the situation, you don’t think you are being trafficked, you just think this is your life. So you don’t recognize yourself.”

Human trafficking rarely begins with a kidnapping by a stranger. Instead, it often involves the subtle manipulation and coercion into trafficking by someone the victim knows and trusts. The result is that for much of the time they are in the trafficking situations, survivors do not see themselves as victims needing to be “rescued” or “saved” in any physical sense, so they assume the services and supports available to trafficking survivors have nothing to do with them. 

2. Language can shape public perception of how human trafficking happens.

“Understanding what happened to you as trafficking is a really important part of healing, but it took me 10 years to realize: Hey. Wow. I was trafficked, because my situation was so different from what I had seen represented as trafficking.” 

When we use phrases like “break chains” paired with imagery that reinforces harmful stereotypes, such as victims in physical constraints, we paint a picture of how human trafficking often looks that is not what the majority of survivors experience. Not only does this narrative prevent victims from self-identifying, it can also trigger a trauma response for survivors as they’re reminded of what it feels like to be less-than-human. 

Similarly, when we use phrases like “human trafficking is happening in our own backyards” and “human trafficking is hidden in plain sight,” we neglect to recognize that certain individuals and communities are far more vulnerable to trafficking than others. While its true that anyone can be a victim of human trafficking, human trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum and is the result of other persistent injustices and inequities in our society and economy. 

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3. Language can place blame on victims and survivors.

“One thing I find hard to take is language or pictures or stories about ‘innocence lost.’ I feel like that means some victims are worthwhile and some are ‘guilty.’”

Our language can shape the way people perceive the story about human trafficking, as well as who is to blame. We may unknowingly place blame on survivors simply by how we frame our narrative or construct our sentences. For example, saying “he sold sex” versus “he was sold for sex” changes the way we interpret the situation. Additionally, saying “she was trafficked by him” versus “he trafficked her” changes who is doing the action and is more survivor-centered.

4. Language can perpetuate saviorism.

“You can’t rescue a person being trafficked. What you can do is create an opportunity for that person to leave.”

Trafficking survivors don’t need to be saved. Instead, they need to be supported as they leave their trafficking situation and access to services that allow them to rebuild and heal. When we use terms like “rescue”, “save”, and “set free”, we are perpetuating a savior narrative that centers us over survivors. 

5. Language can neglect to recognize the inherent strength of survivors.

“One thing that drives me crazy is the whole idea of being a voice for the voiceless. I had always had a voice, even when I was being trafficked, so I find that offensive.” 

Survivors have a voice. Full stop. Phrases like “voice for the voiceless” are not only offensive, but they are inaccurate. Survivors are not voiceless and it’s well past time that we listen to them. 

“It’s long past time to replace “rescue” with resiliency. I mean do we really think that these programs… are the reason a person who has experienced such trauma is successful? No. Not at all. A person’s success in healing belongs to them and is thanks to them. Period.” 

Language is ever evolving and adapting to new language can be hard, but it is critical that we listen to and center the experiences of survivors in order to help them rebuild and heal, and change the systems that prevent human trafficking from happening in the first place.  

We recognize that the language we’ve used to talk about human trafficking in the past has likely been well intentioned, but as we continue to center survivors in our work, language is another place we have to listen.

Learn more about telling the real story of human trafficking in our media guide.

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What Survivor-Centered Work Looks Like https://polarisproject.org/blog/2023/01/what-survivor-centered-work-looks-like/ Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:01:00 +0000 https://polarisproject.org/?p=14193 Guest Blog by Survivor-Advocate Annika Huff Our stories are powerful. When I share my story, audience members often tell me that hearing someone’s real-life experience, in their own words, changes the way they connect to the issue. This is not unique to the work of reducing and preventing human trafficking and supporting survivors. Any successful … Continued

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Guest Blog by Survivor-Advocate Annika Huff

Our stories are powerful. When I share my story, audience members often tell me that hearing someone’s real-life experience, in their own words, changes the way they connect to the issue. This is not unique to the work of reducing and preventing human trafficking and supporting survivors. Any successful human rights work must be rooted and centered in the stories of the people that the movement is supposed to help. But listening to a person’s story is not the same as putting survivors’ lived experiences at the heart of the work an organization or movement is doing. And that is what is truly necessary to do the work of preventing and reducing human trafficking. 

That might seem obvious, but it has not always been how the human rights world – including those in the anti trafficking space – has worked. Today, many organizations are still struggling with how to center survivor experience and expertise in meaningful ways that truly incorporate survivors into the fabric of social change movements. 

Just listening to stories is not enough. In the anti-human trafficking movement, organizations have sometimes gotten stuck in this level of survivor involvement. It can feel tokenizing and even retraumatizing to survivors who are asked to share deeply personal experiences without the support they need. What that support looks and feels like is different for everyone depending on any number of factors. 

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Organizations looking to work with and learn from survivors must recognize that people just getting into anti trafficking work won’t necessarily know the emotional, physical, or psychological effects that sharing their experiences will have on them until they actually do so. Survivors all respond to trauma differently, so what is helpful for one survivor could be harmful to another. On the flip side, sharing their personal experiences can be one of the most empowering steps a survivor can make; taking power back from the perpetrator and using a bad experience for the greater good. 

To help ensure the experience of being involved in the movement is as effective and empowering as possible, organizations must have survivor-informed protocols and procedures around storytelling in place. These range from what kinds of supports are available before the event to thinking through how the survivors’ stories – which are, after all, their intellectual property – are shared afterward. 

When creating materials such as articles and videos, allowing the survivor to have the final say on whether that project airs or how experiences are depicted, is a survivor-centered practice. So is maintaining flexibility about the use of that content over time. As survivors heal and grow, their understanding of their traumatic experiences can change, and with those changes bring new interpretations or perceptions. Partnering with that survivor to develop new materials or re-share their experiences keeps the information modern and teaches others how survivors respond to trauma. 

At the same time, it is vital to respect boundaries around trauma. In a world where so many of us are desensitized to violence and abuse, it makes sense that we want to be shocked and horrified into feeling something. But asking a person about the goriest or most painful details of their experience is both dehumanizing and, at the end of it all, not useful. Instead, anti trafficking advocates and survivors can work on ways to share their stories that include details that can help others moving forward – such as the vulnerabilities that they believe led them to be targeted by traffickers and victimized in the first place. 

Finally, it is vital to the movement that the full diversity of survivor experiences be recognized, respected, honored and incorporated. Having many different survivors from a range of circumstances and experiences co-present or co-create materials, protocols, and policies is imperative to creating healthy and whole environments for the diversity of survivors who are receiving services as they exit their human trafficking experience. 

Because in the end, it is survivors who know best what survivors have to offer and how important it is to the world that they have the tools they need to realize their fullest potential. The anti-trafficking movement can focus on the resilience and the positive attributes that that person has even after something as traumatic as human trafficking happens in their lives. Survivors are mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. Survivors are lawyers, authors, politicians, nurses, and have many other career paths. They are intelligent, strong, kind, and uniquely amazing people, and this resiliency should be shared in the stories too. The stories that are narrated need to humanize and honor survivors. As the work continues, it’s our story and our legacy that becomes part of the fabric of the anti-trafficking movement: Survivors and allies hand-in-hand to help stop human trafficking.

The post What Survivor-Centered Work Looks Like first appeared on Polaris.

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